Clattenburg under the FA's spotlight

The FA has confirmed it has begun an investigation following allegations put forward after yesterday's Premier League top clash between Chelsea London and Manchester United (2-3) that accused FIFA referee Mark Clattenburg to have issued "inappropiate" statements against Chelsea's John Mikel and Juan Mata.

Mark Clattenburg (r.), facing severe allegations (c) Spox.com

After the match, Chelsea issued an official complaint to the Premier League, stating Clattenburg had made racial comments to two of their players. Apart from the statement given today about the started investigation, the FA has not issued any further comment on the case.

Clattenburg's assistants Mick McDonough and Simon Long are said to be potential witnesses, since they could have got the comments via the wire technique deployed by the officials.

In addition, the officials' performance has been generally criticized after the match, since Clattenburg controversially sent Fernando Torres off for an alleged dive despite a clear contact and as the decisive 2-3 goal followed a clear offside position.

Mark Clattenburg currently joins UEFA Elite Group and is on the short list for 2014 FIFA World Cup, as part of which he was already in charge of a U-20 World Cup and the final of 2012 Olympic Games in his mother country.

A quite similar case occurred in France's Ligue 1 last year, too.